Grilled 6 - 3 Raccoons
3536 punters turned up at
The Cooking Pot, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came.
Rémi Thuli was the appointed referee with assistance provided by
Ayya Adnan and
Rafał Grajewski. The following players took the field for Grilled:
Law -
Jaška,
El Khateeb -
Ferzan,
Kwang Tse,
Keng Chuan,
Teck Fu,
Reddy -
Balde,
Chitre,
Trindade.
Raccoons's starters:
Davulcu -
Aslak,
de Noronha -
Pece,
Vârvorea,
Roşioru,
Aissaoui,
Puzić -
Nelemans,
Danci,
Palada.
The teams both lined up their players in 2-5-3 formations.
Radu Vârvorea of Raccoons displayed some of his fantastic technical abilities when he brought the ball down neatly using his instep before nutmegging the bewildered
Chia Kwang Tse and smashing an unstoppable shot past the goalkeeper to make it 0 - 1. Raccoons increased their lead after 27 minutes when
Poul Aslak broke through on the right, upping the score to 0 - 2, much to the home crowd's dismay. Grilled refused to be intimidated and, breaking through the middle,
Hwang Teck Fu managed to slip the ball home for 1 - 2.
Gandhik Chitre showed the skills that make him a real crowd pleaser as he, after 36 minutes, wove through the guests' entire central defence and put the 2 - 2 equaliser away. The visitors' central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass to
Brian 'Was Born' Reddy, but the Grilled player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. 3 - 2! Things were going to get worse for the visitors.
Ibnou Balde squirmed through their central defence after 41 minutes, increasing the lead to 4 - 2. Despite hurting his right foot at the 44 minute mark,
Marius Danci decided to keep playing. The teams went for the halftime break at 4 - 2. Possession in this half belonged to Grilled, who controlled the ball 57 percent of the time.
With 51 minutes played,
Paulino Trindade could have brought this one home for Grilled as he charged up on the left, but his hooked ball went just a bit too high. Grilled managed to extend their lead to 5 - 2 when
Chia Kwang Tse cut in neatly from the left side and struck a fine shot past the away team's goalkeeper. A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Grilled's
Brian 'Was Born' Reddy increasing the lead to 6 - 2. As the 85 minute mark approached, the Grilled coach decided it was time for a substitution.
Paulino Trindade reluctantly made way for
Chan Ze Han on the pitch. 89 minutes into the match, the referee signalled for a Grilled substitution.
Teo Chuan Yong came on for
Aw Keng Chuan. The referee announced 3 minutes of stoppage time, giving fans a slim hope that their team could get one more attack in before this was all over. With 90 minutes showing on the scoreboard clock, Raccoons showed some good skill and were able to reduce the score to 6 - 3 when
Sile Palada got past the home side's central defenders right in front of the goal.
Chan Ze Han could have increased the lead after 91 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. The match ends 6 - 3. Grilled claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 58 percent.
Chan Ze Han performed admirably for Grilled.
Mohsen El Khateeb was a disappointment, however. Raccoons's top performer was clearly
Constantin Roşioru.
Sile Palada turned in a dismal performance, however.